|
Researchers have identified a gene associated with type 2 diabetes and the body’s response to insulin, according to a study reported in the November issue of the journal Diabetes.
The gene, known as PTPN1 (Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase N1), is found on the human chromosome 20, which has long been targeted by investigators as a likely site for diabetes genes.
Lead researcher Donald W. Bowden, a professor at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, said the protein made by this gene represses the insulin response.
“So if you are making a lot of this protein, your ability to respond to insulin would be blunted, which would lead to higher glucose in your bloodstream,” said Bowden. “If it is too high, that’s diabetes.”
Bowden said several variants of the PTPN1 gene were found, including a common form associated with diabetes and another common form that appears to be protective.
The risky variant of the PTPN1 gene is found in about 35 percent of the Caucasian population and the protective form of PTPN1 is found in about 45 percent, according to the researchers. The other variants are apparently neutral, neither enhancing nor reducing the risk of diabetes.
Bowden said the newly discovered gene could contribute to about 20 percent of diabetes in Caucasian Americans. But the picture becomes more complex in other racial groups. “The effect doesn’t seem to be there in African-Americans,” Bowden said, noting that other genes may be responsible for diabetes in African-Americans.
Source:
Diabetes Week staff,
October 30, 2004
|
HOME PAGE
